Rebuilding commercial links with Libya

Even though the situation in Libya has not yet stabilised, with Muammar Gaddafi still on the run and pockets of his loyalists still putting up some resistance, foreign companies are already scrambling to get back to that country to resume operations there or bid for new, lucrative contracts.

Countries such as France, Italy and Britain, considered as the National Transitional Council’s strongest supporters in the people’s struggle to oust Col Gaddafi, stand to gain the most but the council has already gone on record saying that the new Libyan government would not forget countries that had supported the freedom fighters.

Stopping in Malta on his way to New York on Sunday, the NTC council chairman, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, said the island would play a “very distinguished role” in the rebuilding of his country. This clearly indicates the very positive attitude the NTC has towards Malta. A Malta-based Arab European Forum for Development and Dialogue is also drawing up what it has called an “honours list” of businessmen and companies that, it said, would be “considered” when business opportunities arise.

Hopefully, it will not be long now before the country starts picking up the pieces but before this can be done with a degree of confidence, it is necessary to hound out Col Gaddafi and bring him to justice. Also important is for factions within the council to mend their differences and seek to establish strong unity among them as, otherwise, it will take longer for the new Administration to set up the necessary institutional framework for the new Libya to get going in a meaningful way.

Malta does not have any direct interest in the extraction of oil resources in Libya, as France, Italy and Britain have, but its commercial links with that country are not insignificant when considering services and jobs in the overall equation. Which is why the Malta Employers’ Association did well to call for a meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development to “to prioritise and facilitate the continuation of business which had already existed in Libya before the uprising and to protect the interests of the companies and the workers involved”.

The association made the point that there was no other country with which the Maltese had such a diversified involvement, both in terms of size of business and also in terms of activity. “Libya is also unique in that a number of Maltese micro-businesses have managed to establish a base of operations there.”

After the MCESD meeting, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said the government planned to help businesses recover what they had lost in Libya. He did not say how but clearly one way in which this can be done is through the country’s embassy in Tripoli, which has now reopened and started issuing visas. Announcing this earlier last week, Dr Gonzi also said the government planned to open a consular office in Benghazi. A great boost to the resumption of business will be given when regular flights to Tripoli are resumed.

It is, of course, always of some benefit to organise commercial delegations, as the government plans to do, but equally important is to strengthen the embassy in Tripoli. There is much that can be done to rebuild the island’s commercial links with Libya and the employers’ association has made a number of valid proposals. However, all hopes must first rest on the transitional council’s ability to lay the ground for a new and sound beginning.